Savior
by AWalkingDisaster
Summary: Lee saves Carley's life for the second time when she's shot by Lily. Carley finds herself falling hopelessly in love with him, finding a renewed sense of hope in her savior. (CarLee, rated M for language and violence, and possibly other things later on)
1. The Silence is Broken

**Savior**

**A Walking Dead Fanfiction**

**Chapter One**

**Author's Note:**

**Hello! The idea for this story came to me while during my second play-through of The Walking Dead. I noticed a few little things, including an interesting Carley dialogue option. I wondered what could happen if Carley had lived. I'm not going to going to ruin it for anyone who reads the comics or watches the show, but other characters in the series survived similar situations. This story is set as if Lee and Carley had started a relationship, but nothing had gotten *too* serious yet. **

**This is just the first chapter (obviously), and any reviews or criticisms are greatly appreciated.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy my little story!**

_Am I dead?_

Carley wondered as she stared into what seemed to be never-ending darkness. There had been a loud, sharp noise, a bright flash, and then nothing. It took her a moment to notice a burning pain in her right eye. It felt as if it had been seared and whatever had done it lay burrowed in her socket. She could smell dirt and feel the light scratching of leaves on her face.

After a silence that had only lasted seconds, but that felt like hours, she heard the deep rumble of Lee's voice. He sounded different, distraught and full of rage. After his voice was a high-pitched, desperate sounding Lily. She couldn't make out either of their words, they sounded so completely distant.

She heard a low crunching, as if someone were approaching her. She could hear Lee's voice again, softer and different, he was closer. She felt the light pressure of fingers on her neck for a moment. Lee spoke again, except he sounded much closer this time. It took her a moment to realize what he was saying.

"Carley?"

Lee's voice had a sense of shock. Moments later, she felt her body being lifted off the ground. She could feel her back against his arm, with her legs dangling over the other. Her head had unintentionally slumped onto his chest; she could feel his gentle breaths and quickened heartbeat. It was comforting.

She could feel him moving and then being set down on something soft. _The RV's sofa_, she thought after a moment. She was a bit disappointed, not feeling his heartbeat anymore, but she could hear his voice. The RV was moving and she could hear him walking around for a bit, speaking to the others.

She could also hear Clementine's gentle voice, and she was glad the girl was safe. After a while she heard Katjaa's voice closer to her. She could only make out a few words, and she could feel the sharp pain in her eye taking over again. Lee also spoke and they were both silent for a moment before Katjaa spoke again. She could still only make out a few words.

"Carley…saved….lost…eye…sorry…thank you."

It took her a moment to realize what she was saying.

Lee had saved Carley, and she had lost her eye. Likely to the loud bang and flash of light. Then, Carley thought over it for a moment. Lee had saved her.

_Again._

Lee had saved her before, at the pharmacy. He had saved her over Doug. At first, she had wondered why, and thought he was stupid for saving her instead of Doug. Though, these feelings were soon replaced with gratitude and eventually she had started having feelings for him. She had told him about her feelings, and they had started expressing affection towards each other-though it hadn't ventured anywhere serious yet, and they had kept it a secret between the two of them.

She heard Lee talking to Clementine. He said something about Duck, but the words began slurring into each other and she couldn't understand anything after his name. She felt herself slowly begin to slide into unconsciousness.

"Lee?"

Lee sat up a little, hearing his name. He had fallen asleep on the sofa next to Carley with Clementine tucked under his arm. It took him a moment to realize it was Carley speaking. "You're awake." He said with a surprised smile.

"Yeah," Carley said, smiling back at him, then making a slightly pained noise. She reached her hand up to her eye and felt the soft cloth of the gauze. It had been wrapped around the side of her head to cover the socket, and was slightly moist with blood that had soaked through and stained the white cloth.

"You…lost your eye. After Lily shot you. Katjaa said there was no saving it, and she had to get rid of any remaining pieces." His face took on a sickly expression as he recalled how Katjaa had to remove the tissue with a pair of tweezers and a butter knife.

"Lily _shot_ me?" Carley asked in shock.

Lee nodded slowly.

"_Oh, shit._" Carley said quietly, then looking back up to the man, "Why?"

"I don't know." Lee admitted, "She was angry and upset about the supplies…but pulling a gun on someone…"

"Where is she?" Carley asked, looking around.

"We left her there." Lee said, his gaze softening, "I couldn't risk that happening again. I couldn't risk losing you." Carley looked at Lee, not sure how to react to that. "I'm sorry." Lee said, looking away.

"No, I'm not mad." Carley told him, moving her hand to run it gently across his cheek. He looked back at her. "Thank you." She said softly, "Thanks for saving me…again."

"Of course." Lee said, though he sounded a bit confused, as if hadn't needed to thank him. He would have saved her, or tried to save her, no matter what.

Carley looked around to see that Ben and Clementine were still sleeping, Katjaa and Kenny slept in the cab with Duck. She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Lee's lips, waiting for a long moment before pulling away. He smiled softly at her.

"Thank you." Carley repeated.


	2. Guilt

**Savior**

**A Walking Dead Fanfiction**

**Chapter Two**

**A/N:**

**Sorry this took so long! I promise I'll try to update more frequently, I've just been so busy lately!**

**Thanks for the follows, favorites, and reviews! They're greatly appreciated!**

**Anyway, on with the story! Hope you enjoy it!**

After the rest of the group had awoken, they began down the road again.

Clementine looked to Lee, a certain sadness behind her bright amber eyes, "Is Duck going to be okay?" She asked in a hushed voice.

Carley looked at Lee curiously. _Is something wrong with Duck? _She wondered.

"I hope so." Lee told Clementine after a moment, then turning to Carley, noticing her confusion. His expression seemed to radiate the answer as he spoke, "Duck was bitten at the Motor Inn." He told her quietly.

Carley's entire being seemed to change, she slumped in a subconscious motion as her gaze softened. She couldn't find any way to respond to that. Duck was only ten, and she knew what happened next.

Duck would die.

No matter what they did, no matter how hard they tried, or how much they hoped he wouldn't, Duck was slipping through their fingers. They were silent for a long moment, each second ticking by with the agonizing truth echoing in their minds.

It was Lee who eventually broke the silence, "I'm sorry about your eye."

Carley looked at him, "Its fine, I'll admit, it is a little strange. I'm just glad I'm alive."

They were both quiet for a moment after she'd said 'alive'. The word was different, and almost didn't seem right anymore.

"Does it hurt?" Clementine piped up.

"A little, but it's not bad." Carley admitted, smiling at the girl to reassure her.

Clementine nodded before going back to a drawing of a butterfly that she'd been working on. Lee smiled softly as he watched the girl. The RV moved with a steady speed, the bumpiness of the roads causing the cabinets to rattle slightly.

Ben was staring out the window, watching the scenery fly by. He seemed to be in deep thought, but Lee assumed it was because Lily had first accused him. Ben felt a heavy weight on his chest; someone had almost died the night before because of him.

It was a strange thought and an even stranger feeling, a guilt he'd previously been unaware of. He couldn't muster up the courage to confess what had occurred, that the bandits had promised his friend's safety in exchange for supplies, and that he'd foolishly agreed. He hated himself a little bit for it. Carley had lost her eye, and nearly lost her life because of him.

He was relieved that she hadn't been killed, and he hadn't heard the news of Duck's bite yet, so attempted to push the guilty feeling to the back of his mind. He couldn't focus on that now.

The RV continued along down the road, Kenny and Katjaa in the front, Katjaa worrying over her son and Kenny denying the reality of the situation.

Lee and Carley sat on the sofa, Carley occasionally setting her hand to the gauze or hissing softly in pain. It did sting, and at times it was more noticeable. Katjaa had removed the bullets and bothersome pieces of eye tissue, but it would occasionally feel like something was still buried in there.

She wondered how it looked, how she looked with the gauze around the side of her head and how the empty, bloodied socket would appear. Most of the blood had dried to the bandages and down her cheek in a maroon-ish brown color. It was truthfully a little scary looking to Clementine, but she didn't vocalize it.

"Why are we stopping?" Clementine piped up.

Lee looked towards the cab. Katjaa and Kenny had both exited. He looked to Clementine, "I don't know." He admitted, getting up and walking out.

He worried that maybe Duck wasn't going to make it any farther, and that's why they'd stopped. His worry was tossed aside when he saw Kenny glaring angrily at a train in front of the vehicle. They couldn't drive around it, it was too large. Katjaa was sitting on a long with Duck in her arms.

Duck looked worse than he had before, his skin pale and eyes shut. His body gently rose and fell and small raspy breaths could be heard-which seemed to be the only signal of him still being alive at this point. Lee knew he wouldn't make it much further than this, and by the look on Katjaa's face, he could tell that she knew, too.

The others began shuffling out of the RV and gathering around where Katjaa was. Lee approached her, "Is he feeling alright?"

Katjaa looked up to him, the sadness radiating behind her eyes. "His body's just fighting whatever's in it."

_Right?_

"I'm, uh, I'm going to go check out the train with Kenny." Lee told her.

"If you could look for some water, if there's a dining car or something, I'm sure Duck would appreciate it." Katjaa said, petting her son's short hair.

"It's a freighter, Kat." Kenny corrected her.

"I'll keep an eye out." Lee said, moving away from Katjaa to take another look at the train.

The thing didn't seem like a total wreck, though there were large amounts of its cargo spilled around. It did have an eerie feeling about it, but then again, so did most things at this point.

Lee took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts before he approached it.

**A/N: Quick thing, I haven't played the game in a bit, so I know the dialogue's off. Trying not to miss any key points! Thanks again for the reviews, they're greatly appreciated, and I will attempt to update more frequently.**

**Thank you.**


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